College welcomes new faculty members

Sept. 7, 2011—North Central College has appointed five new full-time, tenure-track faculty for the 2011-2012 academic year, which begins Sept. 12.

New faculty members include:

Hale Ekinci, assistant professor of art. Previously a teaching and graduate assistant at Columbia College and University of Florida, Ekinci has worked as a web designer with the Consulate General of Turkey in Chicago and as a graphic designer with various corporations in Chicago and Turkey. She holds a B.A. in computer science from Connecticut College and a master of fine arts degree in interdisciplinary arts and media from Columbia College.

Luke Franks, assistant professor of history. Previously an instructor and visiting lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley and East Bay, Franks has expertise in 19th century Japanese intellectual, political and diplomatic history, interests in comparative East Asian nationalisms, and knows Japanese and German. He holds a B.A. in international relations from Brown University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of California at Berkeley.

Sohinee Roy, assistant professor of English. Previously an English instructor and guest lecturer at West Virginia University, Roy has research interests in 20th century world/anglophone and postcolonial literature, Victorian and Romantic literature, contemporary novels and more. She speaks Bengali and Hindi. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in English literature from Jadavpur University in India and a Ph.D. in English literature from West Virginia University.

Gregory Ruthig, assistant professor of biology. Previously an assistant professor of biology at Grinnell College, Ruthig has postdoctoral experience at Arizona State University with research interests in herpetology, disease ecology, conservation and evolutionary biology, life history evolution and tropical ecology. He holds a B.S. in biology from Washington and Lee University and a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Virginia.

Hillary Shulman, assistant professor of speech communication. Previously an instructor and teaching assistant at Michigan State University, Shulman has teaching interests in interpersonal and small group communication, public speaking and business communication skills, persuasion, political communication and campaigns. She holds a B.S. in communication science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and an M.A. and Ph.D. in communication from Michigan State University.

Founded in 1861 and celebrating its Sesquicentennial in 2011, North Central College is an independent, comprehensive college of the liberal arts and sciences that offers more than 55 undergraduate majors and graduate programming in six areas. Located in the Historic District of Naperville, Illinois—rated by Money magazine as among the nation’s “Best Places to Live”—North Central College is just 30 minutes from Chicago’s Loop. With more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students, North Central College is committed to academic excellence, a climate that emphasizes leadership, ethics, values and service, a curriculum that balances job-related knowledge with a liberal arts foundation and a caring environment with small classes.